The Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday in a unanimous voice vote approved Mark Esper to be Army secretary, Robert Wilkie to be Defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness, Joseph Kernan to be undersecretary for intelligence, and Guy Roberts to be assistant secretary for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs, The Hill reports.
The voice vote now moves the four nominees to the Senate floor, as Esper and the three others could receive a final confirmation vote as early as this week, The Hill notes.
Committee Chairman John McCain told the Washington Examiner that he plans to keep up the pace in moving other Pentagon nominees through the Senate, since of the 57 positions lawmakers must confirm for the Defense Department, 70 percent are still empty.
In the past few months, McCain has been holding up several nominees amid disputes about the amount of information the Pentagon is giving Congress about the deadly October ambush in Niger, as well as strategies for Afghanistan and for fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
During Tuesday’s hearing, McCain interviewed four more Trump administration Pentagon picks: Robert Behler for director of operational test and evaluation, Dean Winslow for assistant secretary for health affairs, Thomas Modly for Navy undersecretary and James Geurts for Navy assistant secretary for research, development, and acquisition.
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